Aircraft wing mounting assembly



n- 1954 J. w. HOLLAND AIRCRAFT WING MOUNTING ASSEMBLY 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 4, 1951 James Wismer Hal/and INVENTOR.

Jan. 19, 1954 J. w. HOLLAND 2,666,602

AIRCRAFT WING MOUNTING ASSEMBLY Filed Jan. 4, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 James Wismer Hal/and .wmvrozz.

Jan. 19, 1954 Filed Jan. 4, 1951 Fig. 4.

J. w. HOLLAND 2,666,602

AIRCRAFT WING MOUNTING ASSEMBLY 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 us 9 M.

James Wismer Hal/and INVENTOR.

Jan. 19, 1954 J. w. HOLLAND AIRCRAFT WING MOUNTING ASSEMBLY 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 4, 1951 Patented Jan. 19, 1954 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE 2,666,602 AIRCRAFT WING MOUNTING ASSEMBLY J ames'Wi'smerHolland, Valdosta, Ga. Application January; 4, 1951, Serial No. 204,312 7 Claims; (01. 244-49) IV This invention relates .to improvements in aircraft of the heavieri-than-air type.

Anobject of i this. invention. is to providean.

aircraft fuselagev with wing sections, both of which have a pivotedframe carried .by the fuselageand connected thereto bymeans of another pivotal connectionand a means of pulling the wing; thepulling means beingso related to the frame that when the wingis pulled inwardly, of

the fuselage the wing isoelevated'a slight amount so that the bottom is rais'ed'above the top part of the fuselage and then, the wingsection swungv rearwardly to a. position of substantial parallelism with the fuselage.

Aifurther object of this invention is to pro.- vide a means of swingingthe frame toward'the fuselage so'th'at the wing, section is movedinboard ofthe fuselage after it'has been swung to:

a positionof parallelism orsubstantial parallelism with the fuselage.

A further object of this invention'is'to provide a singlemeans or assembly for moving the wing section parallel tothe fuselage and'for returning the wingsection'to its normal operating position which isalmost perpendicular to the fuselage.

Ancillary objects and features of importance Will become apparent in following the description'of the illustratedform ofthe invention.

Inthe drawings:

Figure 1 is afragmentary"perspectiveviewof;

an aircraftwhich' has the improved meansof operating the wingsections thereon;

Figure 2 is a side'view of the constructionini Figure'l;

Figure 3 is a side view of the structure'of Figure 2 but showingjthe wing in a position substantial parallel to thefuselage'of the" aircraft;

Figure 4 is a frontview of the device showing the port wing disengaged at the root end thereof and raised'up and'over' thetop' part of the fuselage;

Figure5 is a front view of the device in Figure 1 and showing the next step inthe operation-of foldingthe wings and that is to'swing the port'wing rearwardly'so' that it'assumes a position substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage;

Figure 61's afront view-of the aircraft showing the'other' wing section pulled toward the fuselage and substantially parallel to'the'longitudinal axis of the fuselage, in' this illustration there is the further disclosureof. the frames havmg been pivotedslightly towar the fuselage for the purpose of shiftingthe wingl sections further toward the longitudinal axis of the fuselage;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary plan view of the structure and positions of structure of Figure 5, with portions being broken away to illustrate internal detail; and,

Figure 8 is a fragmentary plan view of the device as shown in Figure. 3, with parts being broken away in section to illustrate internal detail.

For various reasons such as storage, use on an aircraft carrier, to convertfrom an air vehicle to a land vehicle, it is of importance to swing the wing sections in a folded condition with respect to the fuselage of the aircraft. The illustrated embodiment of the invention; to my knowledge, is a new structure for displacing the wings on the fuselage of the aircraft without entirely separatingthem from the. fuselage.

As shown in the drawing there is anairoraft iil'which includes an empennage [2 together. with a'fuselage l4, propeller l6 and other standard components. Inasmuch as the wing folding or displacing mechanism is described in connection with an aircraft which" can be converted from an air device to a land device, I have illustrated pair i8 of front wheel assemblies and a pair 20 of rear wheel assemblies, both assemblies being secured suitably to the fuselage 14.-

There is a pair of wing sections 22 and 24 respectively which areattached to the fuselage and are used for the standard purpose of providing lift for the. aircraft. Each wing section is provided witha means forswinging it to the position disclosed in Figure 5 and for returning it to the position disclosed in Figure 1. It is in the particular means for mounting the wing sections on the fuselage and for so moving them that I believe my improvement resides, inasmuch as thereferredto means for the wingsection 22 is identical to the means for the wing section 24;

I will describe in detail only the structure of onewing section and its attachment to the fuselage. Attention-is first invited to Figure 1. The wing section 24 is provided with a notch 25 at its root A downwardly opening slot 35 which is formed in the lower camber member of the wing section 24 is arranged to accommodate certain structure which constitutes a part of a frame generally indicated at 39.

The frame 38 includes a vertical rod 39 which is provided at its lower end with a mounting arm 39 and a mounting arm (59, each of the arms being mounted for pivotal movement on the side of the fuselage by means of bracket assemblies M and 42. The mounting arms 39 and 49 converge as they approach the rod 33 and are provided with bearings M and it, the bearing as being of the circular type with the rod 39 passed therethrough and the bearing 56 being of the closed type, constituting a seat for the rower end of the rod 39.

An operating link its is pivoted by means of a bearing 49 at its outer end to the rod 33, the bearing 39 being located between the bearings M and 46. At the opposite end of the operating link 48 there is a traveler 59 connected to said opposite end by means of a pivotal connection 5|, and located on a screw 59 which has its ends carried in bearings in 5'5 and 56. The screw is adapted to be rotated by standard means (unshown) in order to cause the traveler 59 to move from one end to the other on the screw thereby swinging the rod 39 toward or away from the fuselage.

The upper end of the rod 33 has a second rod 58 fixed to it and which constitutes a lateral extension. The outer end of the second rod 58 is secured to a bracket 69, mounted on the side of the fuselage, by means of a standard pivot pin assembly 92. The axis of the pivot pin assembly 62 about which the rod 58 rotates is in the same line as the pivot axes of the pivot connections 4! and. 42. Accordingly, when the screw 64 is operated the frame 36 is capable of swinging toward or away from the fuselage, moving with it the extension or rod 58.

There is a link 99 which is pivoted by means of a bifurcated bracket 68 and pin to the rods 58 and 99 at their junction and which is pivoted by a similar bifurcated connection to the lower end of a pivot pin 12. The pivot pin I2 constitutes an axis of rotation for the wing sec tion 25 when the wing section 26 is swung to a position of substantial parallelism to the fuselage M.

The pivotal assembly 92, the rod 98, link 96. bracket I9 and pin '72 are all located in the downwardly opening slot 3 of the wing section 2 5, and

there is a bearing M secured to the structure of which accommodates the upper end of the pin 12 thereby mounting the wing section 2 1 in such manner that it is capable of swinging about the pin 12 as an axis of rotation.

A strut i6 is pivoted by means of the pin 59 to a plate 99, extending from the bearing '49. This strut may be provided with faring 82 for the usual purpose. The upper end of the strut 16 is connected to the wing section by means of a sliding connection generally indicated at 89 (Figure 7). This sliding connection consists of a pin 86 which is located in aligned slots 31 and 99 which are formed structural members 89 and 99 of the wing section 24. The purpose of the slots 8! and 88 is to permit the wing section 24 to shift slightly with respect to the frame 35 when the wing section is being adjusted to the position as disclosed in Figure 8. If necessary, the shape of the slots 91 and 88 may be modthe wing section 29 ified slightly to allow proper movement of the wing section as it is elevated slightly prior to being rotated about the axis of the pin 12.

There is a means provided to be used in connection with the frame 96 for lifting the wing as disclosed in Figure 4 and swinging it rearwardly as disclosed in Figure 5. This means includes a flexible cable 95 which is wound intermediate its ends-around a. drum 99. carried by the fuselage and located in a fared casing 98. The specific purpose of having the cable 95 connected to the drum intermediate its ends is to allow the use of both of the ends of the cable as a pulling medium. The end 99 of the cable 99 is connected by means of a standard bracket 599 to the lower camber portion of the wing section 24. The bracket N39 is disposed between the bearing 14 and the wing tip and closer to the trailing edge of the wing section 24 than the bearing M. Accordingly, when the drum 99 is operated by standard unshown means, the cable 95 is pulled, as guided by the guide pulley 192 which is carried by the fuselage. However, prior to the operation of the drum 96, the pin 32 is separated from its apertures thereby freeing the root end of the wing from the fuselage. If found desirable or necessary, two or more pins 32 may be used and located in places where it is found engineeringly expedient and proper. By an application of force by the end 99 of the cable 95 upon rotation of the drum 99 in such direction that the end 99 is pulled toward the drum, the wing section 2 is pulled inboard or inwardly of the fuselage l4 causing the root end of the wing to be lifted above the top surface Hit of the fuselage. Inasmuch as the link 66 is pivoted at both ends, one end to the frame rods 33 and 59 and the other end to the pivot pin 12, the wing section M will be elevated to a position above the top surface HM (Figure 4).

Upon further pulling force on the end 99 of the cable 95 the wing section 24 will be swung rearwardly to a position of substantial parallelism with the longitudinal axis of the fuselage inasmuch as the bracket I99 is attached at the bottom of the wing and at the specific location described previously. At this time the part of the wing section 24 near the trailing edge will be disposed on the upper surface HM of the fuselage. Therefore in order to reduce sliding friction between the top surface of the fuselage I04 and the lower camber member of the wing section 24, rollers I98 and H9 which may be resilient or metallic roll upon the top surface of the fuselage.

While the end 99 of the cable 95 is being paid in from the drum 9B, the end H4 of the cable which is attached to the root end of the wing and toward the trailing edge in notch 26 (note Figures 3, 5 and 6) thereof, is paid out. Hence, as the wing section 24 is swung upwardly (Figure 4) and rearwardly (Figure 8) the end of the cable I M is supplied with sufficient play as to be capable of moving with the root end of the wing which assumes the position shown in Figure 3.

At this time, that is, when the wing 24 is swung to a position of substantial parallelism with the longitudinal axis of the fuselage, the frame 36 is moved inwardly or inboard of the fuselage to the position disclosed in Figure 6. To do this the screw 55 is rotated, causing the traveler 59 to move forwardly thereof thereby pulling the mounting arms 49, 39 and the rod 53 inwardly toward the fuselage. Inasmuch as the pivot pin 12 is never separated from its bearing M, the

entirewing section 24 is shiftedtoward'the center of the fuselage (Figure 6).

After-this operationhas been completed in connection with thewing'section 24, the identical operation'takes place in connection with the wing section 22. However, the anti-friction means equivalent to andidentical-to those illustrated at I OB-and I I Ii" ride upon the' upper cambermember of the wing section 24 rather than-thetop' Since the topsection surface of the fuselage. of the fuselage will be slightly higher than the wing" section 24 resting upon'it; the length of thelink which-is-directlyequivalent to the link 6 6 is increased and the slot assembly equivalent togthe, slots 87' and 88. areshaped slightly different from the shapes of the slots 81 and 88" to permitthe wingsection 22'tobe elevated toa mechanical movements are not proper movements.

in Figure and it is desired to' use the device as an. air vehicle,.the. wingv sectionZZ is first moved to the position for normal flight, that is, almost: perpendicular to the fuselage I4 (dihedral, sweep back, etcbeing ignored) and then the wing section 24 is moved to its proper position. To accomplish this return movement, the

drum. 96 is operated in the direction opposite from that directionof rotation causing the-wing section 2s to be moved to the position of parallelism with the fuselage. Accordingly, the end 99. of'the cable is paid out-while the end H401 the cable is paid'in'with respect to the drum 96. Upon movement of the drum in the proper direction the end H4 of the cable 95 is moved outwardly of the fuselage as the cable 95 is guided by the guide pulley I20, carried by the fuselage. This causes the wing section 24 to be rotated about the pivot pin 12 as a vertical axis so that it extends outwardly from the fuselage as disclosed in Figure 4. Prior to this operation, however, the screw 54 is rotated causing the frame 36 to swing outwardly and away from the fuselage I 4.

After the wing section 24 assumes the position disclosed in Figure 4, further pulling movement on the end of the cable H4 causes the root end of the wing to swing downwardly so that the bracket fits in the slot 28 and the link 65 is moved to a position substantially parallel to the rod 58. Then the pin 32 is replaced and the drum 96 locked. At this time the aircraft is in readiness for flight.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In an aircraft having a fuselage, a wing section detachably connected at its inboard end to said fuselage, a frame rotatively connected to said fuselage for movement about a substantially vertical axis, a link having an inner end pivotally connected to said frame, a pivot pin pivotally mounted at the outer end of said link and fixedly attached to said wing section near its inboard end for movement of said link in a substantially vertical plane, pulling means operably attached to said fuselage and connected to said wing section at a point between said pivot pin and the trailing edge of said wing section nearer to the wing tip than said pivot pin for pulling said wing section inwardly toward and above said fuselage and for swinging said wing section to a position substantially parallel to said fuselage and means attached to said fuselage and operatively connected to and rotating said' frame toward said fuselage after said wing section hasbeen moved to the position substantially parallel to the fuselage. 2. In an aircraft having a fuselage, a wing section detachably connected at its inboard endto said fuselage, a frame connected to said fuselage, a link having an inner end pivotally connected to said frame, a pivot pin pivotally mounted at the outer end of said link and havingmeans onsaid wing'section rotatably securing the pivotpin thereto for movement of the link in a ver-- tical planeand swinging movement of the wing. about the pivot pin in a substantially horizon-- tal' plane; pulling means operably attached to said fuselage and connected to said wing section at a point between said pivot pin and the-trailing edge of said wing section nearer the wing tip than said pivot pin for pulling said wi'ng section inwardly toward and above said fuselage and for swinging said wing section about saidpivot pin to a position substantially parallel to said fuselage.

3. In an aircraft having a fuselage, a wing section detachably connected" at its inboard end to said fuselage; a frame connected to'said fuse' lage, a link having an inner end pivotally connected to said frame, a pivot pin pivotally'mount ed at the outer endof said link and having means on said wing section rotatably securing the pivot pin thereto for movement ofthe link" in a vertical plane and swinging movement of the wing about the pivot pin in asubstantiallyhorizontal plane, pulling means operably attached to' said fuselage and connected: to said wing section at a point between said pivot pin and the trailing edge of said wing section nearer the wing tip than said pivot pin for pulling said wing section inwardly toward and above said fuselage and for swinging said wing section about said pivot pin to a position substantially parallel to said fuselage, said frame being swingably connected to said fuselage for movement about a substantially vertical axis toward and away from said fuselage, and means attached to said fuselage and operatively connected to and swinging said frame toward said wing section after said wing section has been moved to the position substantially parallel to said fuselage.

4. The combination of claim 2 wherein said pulling means consists of a drum mounted on said fuselage, a cable wound on said drum, one end of said cable being fastened to the inboard end of said wing, and the other end of said cable being connected to said wing section at said point between said pivot pin and said trailing edge.

5. In an aircraft having a fuselage, a wing section detachably connected at its inboard end to said fuselage, a frame connected to said fuselage, a link having an inner end pivotally connected to said frame, a pivot pin pivotally mounted at the outer end of said link and having means on said wing section rotatably securing the pivot pin thereto for movement of the link in a vertical plane and swinging movement of the wing about the pivot pin in a substantially horizontal plane, pulling means operably attached to said fuselage and connected to said wing section at a point between said pivot pin and the trailing edge of said wing section nearer the wing tip than said pivot pin for pulling said wing section inwardly toward and above said fuselage and for swinging said wing section about said pivot pin to a position substantially parallel to said fuseilage, and overlying said fuselage, and rolling means on said wing section operatively contacting the top of the fuselage and the wing section to facilitate sliding the wing section on the fusevlage top.

to said frame, a pivot pin pivotally mounted at the outer end of said link and having means on said wing section rotatably securing the pivot pin thereto for movement of the link in a vertical plane and swinging movement of the wing about the pivot pin in a substantially horizontal plane, pulling means operably attached to said fuselage and connected to said wing section at a point between said pivot pin and the trailing edge of said wing section nearer the wing tip than said pivot pin for pulling said wing section inwardly toward and above said fuselage and for swinging said wing section about said pivot pin to a position substantially parallel to said fuselage, a strut pivotally connected at one end to said frame, said wing section having a sliding connection thereon to which the other end of said strut is connected for movement of the strut to a position substantially parallel to the fuselage when the wing section is so moved.

7. In an aircraft having a fuselage, a wing section detachably connected at its inboard end to said fuselage, a frame connected to said fuselage, a link having an inner end pivotally connected to said frame, a pivot pin pivotally mounted at the outer end of said link and having means on said wing section rotatably securing the pivot pin thereto for movement of the link in a vertical plane and swinging movement of the wing about the pivot pin in a substantially horizontal plane, pulling means operably attached to said fuselage and connected to said wing section at a point between said pivot pin and the trailing edge of said wing section nearer the wing tip than said pivot pin for pulling said wing section inwardly toward and above said fuselage and for swinging said wing section about said pivot pin to a position substantially parallel to said fuselage, said frame being swingably connected to said fuselage for movement about a substantially vertical axis toward and away from said fuselage, and means attached to said fuselage and operatively connected to and swinging said frame toward said wing section after said wing section has been moved to the position substantially parallel to said fuselage, said means operatively connected to and rotating said frame, consisting of a screw rotatably mounted and longitudinally disposed onsaid fuselage, a follower on said frame operatively carried on said screw and moving said frame toward and away from said fuselage upon rotation of the screw.

JAMES WISMER HOLLAND.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

